The present invention relates to an automatic photosensitive material conveying apparatus, and more particularly to an automatic conveying apparatus to be disposed between a recording apparatus which records an image to be reproduced on a photosensitive material which is fed at a predetermined velocity, and an automatic developing apparatus which develops the photosensitive material recorded which is fed at a different velocity from that in the recording apparatus. The conveying apparatus transports the photosensitive material automatically and efficiently from the recording apparatus to the developing apparatus.
There has been commercially used a scanner which as continuously feeds film into a recording unit, in which an image to be reproduced is recorded on the film through slit exposure or flying beam spot exposure, and the continuous film is cut into sheets and is discharged from a discharge port of the recording apparatus (hereinafter referred to as merely "scanner").
It would be convenient to directly connect the discharge port of the recording apparatus to an entrance port of the automatic developing apparatus to void the need for an operator to perform several intermediate operations.
It is impossible, however, to carry out to achieve this result by simply converting the automatic developing apparatus to the recording apparatus, because there is normally a difference in advancing speed of the photosensitive material between the recording stage of the scanner and the developing stage at the developing apparatus.
In order to solve this problem, a conventional example of such connection, as shown in FIG. 4 of the accompanying drawings, is effected by means of a conveying apparatus 5 interposed between an outlet of the scanner 1 and inlet of the developing apparatus 2. The conveying apparatus 5 includes a conveyor unit 4 having a length L greater than a maximum length of photosensitive material 3 to be transported. Conveying velocity V.sub.AT of this conveyor unit 4 is maintained equal to material advance velocity V.sub.1 of the scanner 1 during the time that the photosensitive material 3 is discharged from the scanner 1, and is switched to be equal to the material advance velocity V.sub.2 of the developing apparatus 2 after the tail end of photosensitive material 3 is completely discharged from the scanner 1, that is after the photosensitive material 3 is cut by a cutter 6 at the outlet of the scanner 1 and delivered to the conveyor unit 4.
In the above construction, however, the conveying velocity V.sub.AT in the conveying apparatus 5 must be maintained equal to the advance velocity V.sub.2 at the developing apparatus 2 while the photosensitive material 3 is fed from the conveying apparatus 5 to the developing apparatus 2, and during this period the next sheet of photosensitive material 3 cannot be fed from the scanner 1 to the conveyor unit 4. Generally, the advance velocity V.sub.2 at the developing apparatus 2 is a low velocity in the order of 50 cm/min. though it normally is higher than the advance velocity V.sub.1 at the scanner 1. It follows that the discharge from the scanner 1 of the next sheet of photosensitive material 3 must wait a long time until the preceding sheet of photosensitive sensitive material 3 is completely transferred from the conveying apparatus 5 to the developing apparatus 2. This impedes efficient use of the scanner 1. Assuming that the sheet of photosensitive material 3 has a length 1, the time taken for the leading end of the sheet to reach the inlet of developing apparatus 2 is (L-1)/V.sub.1 and the time taken after this point of time for the tail end of the sheet to enter the developing apparatus 2 completely is 1/V.sub.2. Therefore, the time consumed after the photosensitive material 3 is cut until the succeeding portion of photosensitive material 3 is ready for printing, namely the waiting time of the scanner 1, is; EQU (L-1)/V.sub.1 +(1/V.sub.2)
For expediency of calculation the above formula assumes that a cutter 6 is located at the outlet of scanner 1. (This applies also to other formulae to appear in this specification.)
FIG. 5 shows a schematic view of another conventional conveying apparatus, which has been proposed as an improvement upon the foregoing known example. This conveying apparatus 5 inclues two conveyor units 4a, 4b arranged in series along the photosensitive material passage between the outlet of surface scanner 1 and the inlet of developing apparatus 2, each conveyor unit having a length L greater than a maximum length of photosensitive material 3 to be transported. Conveying velocity V.sub.AT of the conveyor units 4a, 4b is switchable in three levels, i.e. a velocity corresponding to the material advance velocity V.sub.1 at the scanner 1, a velocity corresponding to the advance velocity V.sub.2 at the developing apparatus 2, and a velocity V.sub.3 higher than these velocities. Conveying velocity V.sub.AT of the first conveyor unit 4a is maintained equal to the advance velocity V.sub.1 at the scanner 1 while the photosensitive material 3 is moving from the outlet of scanner 1 to the first conveyor unit 4a. The first and second conveyor units 4a, 4b are switched to and maintained at velocity V.sub.3 after the tail end of photosensitive material 3 reaches the first conveyor unit 4a, i.e. after the photosensitive material 3 is cut by a cutter 6 at the outlet of the scanner 1, until the leading end of the photosensitive material 3 reaches the inlet of the developing apparatus 2. Thereafter the conveying velocity V.sub.AT of the second conveyor unit 4b is switched to be equal to the advance velocity V.sub.2 at the developing apparatus 2. Thus, the apparatus effects a speed increase for the intermediate part of conveyance.
However, such the apparatus still leaves the problem concerning efficient use of the scanner 1 unsolved. That is, conveying velocity V.sub.AT of the first conveyor unit 4a is set to the velocity V.sub.3, which is different from the advance velocity V.sub.1 at the scanner 1, during the period from cutting of the photosensitive material 3 by the cutter 6 at the outlet of the scanner 1 to the transfer of the resulting tail end to the second conveyor unit 4b. Only after lapse of this period is the scanner 1 allowed to discharge the succeeding portion of the photosensitive material 3. In this instance, the waiting time of the scanner 1 corresponds to the period from the cutting of the photosensitive material 3 to the completion of the transfer of the resulting tail end to the second conveyor unit 4b permitting the next portion of the photosensitive material 3 to be printed. Thus the waiting time may be expressed by the formula L/V.sub.AT. Moreover, this apparatus not only requires complicated controls for switching the conveying velocity V.sub.AT of conveyor units 4a, 4b but has the problem of increased chances of damage done to the photosensitive material 3 as a result of the high-speed intermediate conveyance.